Henry Stepbeiis,'see page 326 ante) was emplor- ed in printing with his step-fother, Simon de Colines. He was a " libiaire jure" of the uni- Tcnity'of Paris, and is supposed to hare rendered himself conspicuous as a tjfpographer about the year 1537, at which period he occupied the pre- mises which had formerly been the residence of his father. He frequendy employed the press of Francis Girault Maittaire doubts whether Francis Stephens exercised the typographical profession beyond the year 1647; and that his impressions, both in the roman and italic, are pleasingly executed, generally accurate, and now seldom met with. No impressions by this printer, executed entirely in the Greek language, are met with, excepting bis Ptalteroiihe year 1542, and ha Hor<e Vityinit, of the year 1543. His other impressions amount to about ten in number.
The insigne, or mark, peculiar to Francis Stephens, is a tripos, placed upon a pedestal. From the tripos, or vase, issues a vine shoot. Underneath is represented a closed book, on which the tripos stands; and on a base or pedes- tal, beneath the whole, these words frequently appear inscribed : xXiov IXaiov ^ oi vov, Pliu olei faoai RM*." Sometimes is found the addition of the following distich and adage in Greek :
TVaiMicnt tiie rose>i tdoom I when iwit uid rope. Seek joa the flower r— jronll And the boih uone.
Of an tUoci, the moet dlffleolt 1* to pIcMe eroy body,
Sometimes after the example of his father, he exhibited the arms of the university of Paris.
1548. Robert Copland, stationer, printer, bookseller, author, and translator, who seems to hare resided entirely at the Rose Garland, in Fleet-street. The will of Wynkyn de Worde, and the prologue to William Copland's edition of the Knygkt of the Sminne, printed in quarto, withontdiUe, are sufficient proofs of this printer's trpographictil instnictor, although Mr. Bagford states, without naming his authority, that he was a serrant to William Caxton. Herbert seems inclined to believe that Robert Copland was en- abled to commence business as a typographer by a bequest from one William Copland, tailor, and king's merchant to Henry YTII. who died in the year 1515, in which year Robert's eldest book now extant was printed ; but there is not any thing known as to what degree of consanguinity mignt exist between them. It is supposed that Revert Copland died about the end of 1547, or the beginiung of 1548 ; being at his decease the old«t printer in England. William Cop- land, the subject of the next notice, and Robert both used the same marks and letter, and printed so many books without dates, that it is impossible at this time to distinguish their works separately. The first work of Robert's was the Justice of peas, 1515, quarto. In 1521, he printed the mirrour of the church of saynt Austyn of Ahyng- ion, with a petytyon of Robert Copland, printer. In 1531, he printed the prymer of Salisbury, in twenty .one leares. In 1540, the maner to live
weil, devoutly, and salutary every daye, for all persons of mean estate, compyled by mautre Johan Queinen, doctour in divintle at Paris. Trans- lated out of French into Englyshe bv Robert Copland, printer. 7%e hye way to the spyitell hous. With a wooden cut of Copland between a porter and a beggar, over each their names are cut. It is a dialogue in verse, and begins with. The prologue of Robert Copland, eompylar and prynter of this boke, and ends, Levoy of the auctor, thus : —
Go Iftel quayre to erery decree.
And to thy mater deeyre them to loke, DeeyrinK them for to pudon me,
lliat am so bolde to pat them in my boke. To eachea ryce I the nndertoke,
Dyseyninr no maner of creature : I were to blame, yf I them fbrsoke :
None In tbia world of welth can be rare.
He printed the Introduction of Knowledge, by Andrew Borde, physician, which treateth of the natural disposition of an Englishman, and of the money then used. In it is a cut of an Eng- lishman, somewhat resembling Henry VIII. but naked, holding a piece of cloth orer his arm, and a pair of shears in his other hand, with the foUowmg lines, expressing the fickle disposition of the English :
" I am an Engllahman, and naked I itand here, Ifnalng In my mynda, what layment I ahal weiei For now I were thys, and now I wyll woe that, Now I wyl were^ I cannot tell wba^ ftc."
The devices of Robert Copland were three in number, all of which alluded to the roses that he bore in his sign. The principal one, was an upright parallelogram surrounded by a single line, witnin which appear a flourishing tree springing out of the earth, and supporting a sbield suspended from its branches by a telt, and surrounded by a wreath of roses. On the left hand side is a hind regardant collared by a ducal coronet, standing as supporter ; and on the right hand is a hart in a similar position, and with the same decorations. On the outside of the parallelogram are four loose pieces placed in a square at a little distance from it. They are black, and are each ornamented with a rude scroll cut in white bearing upon them the fol- lowing text, cut in a very thick black-letter. On the top one is H Melius est ; on the right hand one nomen bonum; on the bottom one, q diuite; and on the leil hand one, multe. Pror. xxii ; That is to say, A good man is better than much riches. Pror. xxii. v. 1.
William Copland is supposed to hare been the son of Robert, mentioned above, others con- jecture that he was his younger brother, and his partner. The chsaacter of their typography is very similar, they having both of them evidently used the same rude types ; which in all proba- bility descended from Kobert to William Cop- land, who is imagined to have worked in the office of the former until his death, which has already been noticed. Few circumstances exist of the life of William Copland ; but those which are to be found state that he was one of the
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